Two retail bandwagons collide at Roots: social media saturation and the pop-up shop

Toronto is no stranger to pop-up shops, from the Drake BBQ to Frye’s boot stand at Ron White’s to the A2Zane bag emporium on Queen West. Now, Roots is getting into the game, setting up whole new way to get your pop-up shop fix: on-line. The Canadian retailer has opened a Facebook shop to preview their spring collection (similar to their Douglas Coupland microsite last year) jumping onto the bandwagon of retailers trying to appeal to the social media crowd. H&M has offered deals via Facebook, Sears and Home Depot are on Twitter and Black’s has launched an iPhone app, all in an effort to build brand awareness. And their efforts seem to be working—many companies are calling their on-line initiatives a huge growth area. So burgeoning agoraphobics rejoice—it’s never been easier to never leave the house.